FISE 2017 Montpellier through the eyes of Daniel Grant

21 Sep FISE 2017 Montpellier through the eyes of Daniel Grant

Daniel Grant is one of the best pro cable-riders on the planet. Starting wakeboarding at the age of 11, he landed his first Mobydick Five at 12 years old This wakeboard genius is also one of the best wakeskaters in the world landing tricks that no one imagined were possible. This year he will celebrate turning 20 years old and at this young age he leads both the wakeboard and wakeskate world scenes.

FISE is an event I try to make as a priority on my competition schedule. My first FISE was in 2013 and I have competed in it every year since, with the exception of 2015. That year, not only was I competing at several events, but I was in the middle of filming three projects, including the X-Games Real Wake.

FISE brings wakeboarding home to its “Mother”, the place it belongs and sits most comfortably.
I started wakeboarding because of the influence of skateboarding. I got my first skateboard at the age of three, so that definitely had an influence on me.

Riding at an event like FISE in front of so many people, with pro skateboarding going at the same event as wakeboarding, is living the dream. I’m pumped to watch the skateboarding, but even more pumped that wakeboarding is represented.

You have to be there to believe the size of the event. Across the five days, there are more than 500,000 people watching something like 2,000 athletes. That takes a huge amount of organizing, and they do a great job.

The wakeboarding set up gets better every year, and with a 2 Tower Wakestation , the level of riding and the way the event can flow, just gets better and better.

The riders are looked after, the event organization is always spot on and they show the main events with a live web broadcast. At the end of each day wrap up, those broadcasts are then uploaded, for those who could not be there to watch on-line. FISE hit its 20 year anniversary this year and definitely deserves credit for pushing the direction of our sport into the mainstream.

The wake event was pretty stacked and started with 45 invited riders. This was broken into nine heats of five people. The top three of each heat would qualify to the semi’s.

Semi’s had 12 riders in two heats with top three of each heat making a six man final.
I qualified through to the finals with Aaron Gunn, Dom Hernler, Victor Salmon, Timo Kapl and Clement Nadal.

I was stoked to stick my runs, with a combined score to come out on top, to take home the bacon. Aaron took second and Dom took third place on the podium. I was especially pumped, as I had to take the win, with my final pass and as the last rider. Both Aaron and Dom, dropped me down to third place, until my last run!

I can’t wait to go back to FISE again next year! This epic event is definitely one of the best ways to represent wakeboarding to a bigger audience.